New Canaan, CT March 19 - An AmeriCares
airlift is being loaded to leave Amsterdam with 15,000 pounds of emergency
supplies for refugees left by a volcanic eruption at Goma in the Congo.
The supplies are to be distributed through
the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) at health clinics in Goma
and two camps on the Rwanda side of the border for refugees who fled from
the Congo after lava destroyed much of their community, including two hospitals,
four health centers and 80 percent of the region's pharmacies.
In the shipment are antibiotics, antimalarials, multivitamins, surgical kits, tents and sleeping pads, assembled by AmeriCares from U.S. donors.
AmeriCares is marking its 20th anniversary this year as a humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization. As part of its work in 137 countries, AmeriCares established field hospitals in Rwanda in 1994 and airlifted a medical team to the to Brazzaville in the Congo last summer.
AmeriCares Foundation
161 Cherry St.
New Canaan, CT 06840
800-486-HELP (4357)